diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index 041d363d70b3b603b4f75f7e7342f17f90cea3d9..20128f48bac5ed423faed7d664012004ac93ef50 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -3,7 +3,8 @@ stages:
 
 variables:
   OPENSHIFT_SERVER: $OPENSHIFT_DEV_SERVER
-  BUILD_ENV: $BUILD_ENV
+  INSTALLATION_ROOT: $INSTALLATION_ROOT
+  SPACKIFIED_ENV: $SPACKIFIED_ENV
   OP: $OPERATION
   #SPACK_ENV_TAR_FILE: ebrains-spack-builds${CI_PIPELINE_ID}.tar.gz
   SPACK_ENV_TAR_FILE: ebrains-spack-builds.tar.gz
@@ -18,7 +19,7 @@ deploy-build-environment:
   script:
     # create job description file
     - chmod a+x create_job.sh
-    - ./create_job.sh $BUILD_ENV $OP $SPACK_ENV_TAR_FILE $CI_PIPELINE_ID
+    - ./create_job.sh $INSTALLATION_ROOT $SPACKIFIED_ENV $OP $SPACK_ENV_TAR_FILE $CI_PIPELINE_ID
     - cat simplejob.yml
     # select the project in openshift
     - oc project jupyterhub-int
diff --git a/create_JupyterLab_kernel.sh b/create_JupyterLab_kernel.sh
index 193696773952226c493fd59e1a536caf30ef5016..b5098356f79b77bd1f69cb7c8dd3add28a271e0f 100644
--- a/create_JupyterLab_kernel.sh
+++ b/create_JupyterLab_kernel.sh
@@ -4,13 +4,14 @@
 #usage           :./create_JupyterLab_kernel.sh $BUILD-ENV
 #==============================================================================
 
-ENV=$1
+INSTALLATION_ROOT=$1
+SPACKIFIED_ENV=$2
 CONF_PATH="/srv/jupyterlab_kernels/int/release20210930"
 
 # load spack and spack repos
-cp -r /srv/$ENV/spack/.spack ~
-source /srv/$ENV/spack/share/spack/setup-env.sh
-spack repo add /srv/$ENV/ebrains-spack-builds
+cp -r /srv/$INSTALLATION_ROOT/spack/.spack ~
+source /srv/$INSTALLATION_ROOT/spack/share/spack/setup-env.sh
+spack repo add /srv/$INSTALLATION_ROOT/ebrains-spack-builds
 
 # prepare the env file 
 mkdir $CONF_PATH/bin
@@ -20,7 +21,8 @@ set -euxo pipefail
 EOF
 
 # load here all tools
-spack load --sh -r python@3.8.11 py-ipykernel py-pip py-numpy@1.21.0 py-scipy py-pandas py-seaborn py-matplotlib arbor nest@3.0 neuron py-pynn tvb-data tvb-library %gcc@10.3.0 >> $CONF_PATH/bin/env.sh
+#spack load --sh -r python@3.8.11 py-ipykernel py-pip py-numpy@1.21.0 py-scipy py-pandas py-seaborn py-matplotlib arbor nest@3.0 neuron py-pynn tvb-data tvb-library %gcc@10.3.0 >> $CONF_PATH/bin/env.sh
+spack env activate $SPACKIFIED_ENV --sh >> $CONF_PATH/bin/env.sh
 
 # end of env creation
 cat <<EOF >>$CONF_PATH/bin/env.sh
diff --git a/create_job.sh b/create_job.sh
index 25eee6c04a7743297cb46906c08b9a50d5fd2f57..96172bc367744305c41794e7d38984a150bbc004 100644
--- a/create_job.sh
+++ b/create_job.sh
@@ -1,9 +1,10 @@
 #!/bin/bash
 
-BUILD_ENV=$1
-OP=$2
-SPACK_ENV_TAR_FILE=$3
-OC_JOB_ID=$4
+INSTALLATION_ROOT=$1
+SPACKIFIED_ENV=$2
+OP=$3
+SPACK_ENV_TAR_FILE=$4
+OC_JOB_ID=$5
 
 cat <<EOT >> simplejob.yml
 apiVersion: batch/v1
@@ -30,7 +31,7 @@ spec:
         volumeMounts:
           - name: sharedbin
             mountPath: /srv
-        command: ["/usr/local/bin/deploy-build-env.sh", "$BUILD_ENV", "$OP", "$SPACK_ENV_TAR_FILE"]
+        command: ["/usr/local/bin/deploy-build-env.sh", "$INSTALLATION_ROOT", "$SPACKIFIED_ENV", "$OP", "$SPACK_ENV_TAR_FILE"]
       volumes:
         - name: sharedbin
           persistentVolumeClaim:
diff --git a/load_sim_tools.sh b/load_sim_tools.sh
index ad9bfad31b7ea40c949a837a63ee475168009aca..e515b407896d7b29d552d025469cdb40a2d85089 100644
--- a/load_sim_tools.sh
+++ b/load_sim_tools.sh
@@ -13,22 +13,7 @@ source /srv/test-build/spack/share/spack/setup-env.sh
 
 cd /srv/test-build/
 spack repo add ebrains-spack-builds
-cd ~
-echo "Loading packages..."
-
-spack load -r python@3.8.11 %gcc@10.3.0
-spack load -r py-numpy@1.21.0 %gcc@10.3.0
-spack load -r py-pip %gcc@10.3.0
-spack load -r py-scipy %gcc@10.3.0
-spack load -r py-pandas %gcc@10.3.0
-spack load -r py-seaborn %gcc@10.3.0
-spack load -r py-matplotlib %gcc@10.3.0
-spack load -r arbor %gcc@10.3.0
-spack load -r neuron %gcc@10.3.0
-spack load -r nest@3.0 %gcc@10.3.0
-spack load -r py-pynn %gcc@10.3.0
-spack load -r tvb-data %gcc@10.3.0
-spack load -r tvb-library %gcc@10.3.0
+spack env activate ebrains-spack-builds
 
 echo "Everything ready!"
 #echo "Starting Python..."